- Database
- Fanedit Listings
- FanFix
- Shadow Knows, The
Shadow Knows, The
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1994
Original Running Time:
107
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
99
Time Cut:
8
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
The Shadow Knows celebrates the gorgeous sets and costumes (using the Shout Factory blu-ray as source) and Jerry Goldsmith's score (adding cues from the Intrada CDs). Ying-Ko's backstory is shown through three dreams, letting the film open in medias res on the bridge. The dreams build up in awfulness: recurring reminders of his ruthless past.
One of the most influential and long-lived pulp characters, The Shadow has been a radio drama host/character, the hero of 325 novels, and has appeared in comics, TV shorts and films since 1930. Building on Walter Gibson's stories from 1939-1940, The Shadow fights his nemesis, Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding New York City to ransom with an atom bomb. Using his power "to cloud men’s minds”, the Shadow comes to the city’s rescue with guns blazing.
One of the most influential and long-lived pulp characters, The Shadow has been a radio drama host/character, the hero of 325 novels, and has appeared in comics, TV shorts and films since 1930. Building on Walter Gibson's stories from 1939-1940, The Shadow fights his nemesis, Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding New York City to ransom with an atom bomb. Using his power "to cloud men’s minds”, the Shadow comes to the city’s rescue with guns blazing.
Intention:
The Shadow is a good movie that could have been a great movie, which would have been the start of a franchise. We could have had more stories of his agents, a guest-appearance by Doc Savage, an origin story showing how the WW1 flier ended up in Asia. Aah, if only!
Some of the movie's flaws are beyond repair, e.g. the lack of more footage of the final "Mirror" battle, but others can be much improved. The over-long introduction can be removed (repurposed in three short flashbacks), the inconsistent humor can be tightened (apparently director Mulcahy had quite different ideas than writer Koepp and producer Bregman, resulting in an inconsistent tone).
This edit is an effort to lift the movie, if not from good to great (I can't shoot new footage with the actors), then from good to better.
Some of the movie's flaws are beyond repair, e.g. the lack of more footage of the final "Mirror" battle, but others can be much improved. The over-long introduction can be removed (repurposed in three short flashbacks), the inconsistent humor can be tightened (apparently director Mulcahy had quite different ideas than writer Koepp and producer Bregman, resulting in an inconsistent tone).
This edit is an effort to lift the movie, if not from good to great (I can't shoot new footage with the actors), then from good to better.
Additional Notes:
The Shadow has many similarities with the, nowadays more famous, Batman. Some differences stand out that make The Shadow a more interesting character for me:
- His large organization of agents limits his reliance on police information and often gives him an edge over the police. The Shadow is a true vigilante who does not trust the police to get the job done right, as opposed to The Batman who vaccilates between vigilante and police-approved liaison. It's not that I prefer vigilanteism over following the law, I just prefer the logical consistency. If Batman is a police liaison, why not move the batcave into police headquarters and train the police force to work the equipment? Imagine how much more effective they'd be.
- The Shadow's catchphrase is not just a marketing slogan, he truly knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men because he WAS such an evil man. His justice is dispassionate because he isn't looking for revenge, he is coldly trying to cleanse New York of the criminals that the police have been unable to stop. The Batman came to crimefighting as an innocent person seeking revenge for his murdered parents. Not objective at all and counter-intuitively MORE questionable whether this person should be a vigilante at all.
- Both crime-fighters typically apprehend the villains in their stories, but Batman keeps fighting the same characters over and over again. Is there a catch-and-release program for super-villains in Gotham? What gives?! When The Shadow stops villains, they rarely come back. Even his nemesis, Shiwan Khan, only appeared in four stories at the end of which he died a fiery death. Kudos to Walter Gibson and subsequent writers for coming up with a never-ending line of villains instead of repeating a small cadre of super-villains over and over.
Other Sources:
Intrada's The Shadow double CD for unused Goldsmith cue "The Mirrors (Alternate Version)", and clean versions of Poppy Fields and Chest Pains.
Pulp and comics art for scans in opening titles (thank you W.M Kaluta for introducing me to The Shadow through your work!).
Universal Studios' logo from their 1931 The Shadow short "A Burglar To The Rescue".
Pulp and comics art for scans in opening titles (thank you W.M Kaluta for introducing me to The Shadow through your work!).
Universal Studios' logo from their 1931 The Shadow short "A Burglar To The Rescue".
Special Thanks:
Bionicbob for making his excellent black-and-white edit The Shadow Strikes and for his feedback on my interpretation.
Release Information:
Digital
Special Features
1.78:1 (1080p)
5.1 AC3
English subtitles
alternate posters
5.1 AC3
English subtitles
alternate posters
Editing Details:
Bionicbob's cutlist for The Shadow Strikes was my starting point.
The goal isn't a shorter story, it's a more consistent story. So I cut as little as possible.
I cut the jokes which I found inconsistent with the main tone of the movie.
The movie opens in New York City because the whole Tibet story took too long and did not hold my attention. 2'40" of the 8'20" opening is re-used as later dreams (out of a total 8 minutes cut, almost 6 of those are from the opening sequence).
The goal isn't a shorter story, it's a more consistent story. So I cut as little as possible.
I cut the jokes which I found inconsistent with the main tone of the movie.
The movie opens in New York City because the whole Tibet story took too long and did not hold my attention. 2'40" of the 8'20" opening is re-used as later dreams (out of a total 8 minutes cut, almost 6 of those are from the opening sequence).
Cuts and Additions:
- New opening credits, using images of the Shadow pulp covers and comics and different font (AR Bonnie). Poppy Fields is trimmed at the end to match the duration. It was fun to search through Shadow archives for the most relevant images. I had to discard many more than I ended up using.
- Story opens on the NYC bridge: opening origin is cut here and used later in flash-back dreams. Location title card changed from "New York City, Seven Years Later" to "New York City, 1936" (the year isn't said in the movie, but one scene shows a movie theater marquee advertising "The Invisible Ray" with Karloff and Lugosi).
- On bridge: mute "I hate heavy lifting" (lame).
- On bridge: small trim to Duke's gunfire (too much).
- On bridge: small trim to Shadow shooting at cement block (he looked comically excited: wrong tone).
- In cab: cut Tam's "ask my wife" and Shadow's "NOOO!" response (wrong comedic tone).
- Cut Tam waving goodbye to taxi.
- Insert Dream #1 "I am your teacher" at fireplace.
- In museum: cut "Why have I not heard of him" (made the museum employee appear ignorant).
- In museum: trim the flapping sarcophagus hinges, so the guard holsters his gun once not twice (made him look dumb).
- In museum: cut guard's "We're closed." and "Yes, my khan." Also cut Shiwan's repeat of "join me or die".
- Message in vacuum pipe: trim some piping section (for pacing).
- In Tam's lab: cut Tam's "Hey, that is catchy" to Cranston's "Atomic Bomb" (The term was known: H.G. Wells coined it in his 1914 book "The World Set Free").
- At Cobalt Club: cut commissioner Gordon's sputtering "Oh, waiter" during Margo's plea. The man may be dim but he's not (that) rude.
- At Rheinhardt's lab: cut "I'm not asking you to eat a burger." from the food-choice exchange between the guards (the joke went on too long).
- In Rheinhardt's lab: mute "next time you get to be on top", and trim battle for pacing.
- Outside Rheinhardt's lab building: cut Shrevnitz "I sense someone is coming" (lame joke).
- On street just before Chinatown: extend (muffled) street noises from Chinatown in the preceding shot on the street (smoother transition).
- In Shiwan Khan's restaurant: cut Cranston's "That's the U.S. of A. you're talkin' about" (the Shadow saw so much wrong in society, I don't think he was a poster boy for American Exceptionalism in the 20th century). This, unfortunately, forced me to also cut Khan's eye-rolling "... ruling the world".
- In restaurant: cut "oh that knife" (Khan's speech flows better this way).
- Departing restaurant: cut 1/2 second of Khan going for the window (visual continuity).
- add Dream #2 "battlefield" into "face-off" dream.
- In Cranston's guest-room: cut 1 instance of Cranston saying "last night we agreed" (wrong comedic tone).
- Wide shot of Empire State Building: erase the antenna from the top of the building (time period error: that was only added in 1953), and mute Cranston's pun when sailor jumps off building (wrong kind of funny).
- Inside giant water tank: trim trapped Shadow (for pacing).
- Outside water tank: cut Cranston's smile after Margo says "You called?"
- Place Dream #3 "shoot through him" during fever sleep (replacing the "battlefield" dream which got moved into Dream #2).
- In Hotel Monolith: cut Claymore's "Betcha wish you were nicer to me ...".
- In the hotel: trim Claymore's fight with the Shadow (for pacing).
- Disarming the bomb: cut most of bomb rolling around the hotel (wrong comedic tone: with different music this could be in a Chaplin movie).
- The Lady from Shanghai-inspired mirrors climax. The final battle was shortened because Universal Studios suffered earthquake damage during filming and decided not to rebuild the mirror set. They used only the footage they already had. The result feels truncated. I would have loved to extend the final battle, with a longer build-up of suspense before the mirror-shattering action. Alas, the only thing I can do is to rebalance the build-up a little by shifting some shots so that the bomb story wraps up earlier to create a slightly longer continuous final battle. I mirrored one shot (pun intended) and removed one with poor SFX. No significant changes because there just isn't enough material!
- Aftermath: tiny trim to the Commisioner looking up at the hotel (the actor looked too high up the second time).
- Aftermath: add "Upstate New York" location title card to the mental hospital, as a nod to Doc Savage's "Crime College" (this Easter Egg really jumped out at me, I don't understand how reviewers didn't pick up on it).
- Closing credits: Cut awful green-eyed Shadow drawing. I never liked that image they made for the movie poster. That's not my Shadow! Instead, I added the Shadow's laugh to transition into the credits.
- Closing credits: Replace "Original Sin" with Goldsmith's unused version of "The Mirrors", followed by (slightly trimmed) Frontal Lobotomy.
- Added FE logo.
- Added English subtitles.
- Not added: shot of Shadow on bridge w CGI cape (from Taylor Dayne music video), because picture quality is too low.
- Not added: I tried Winifred Shaw's 1935 rendition of "Lullaby of Broadway" for the second half of the end credits (it's sung and whistled in the movie by both Shiwan Khan and the museum guard) but it wasn't the right fit.
- Not cut: Khan and Cranston talking about the "nice tie". I like the dry wit.
- Story opens on the NYC bridge: opening origin is cut here and used later in flash-back dreams. Location title card changed from "New York City, Seven Years Later" to "New York City, 1936" (the year isn't said in the movie, but one scene shows a movie theater marquee advertising "The Invisible Ray" with Karloff and Lugosi).
- On bridge: mute "I hate heavy lifting" (lame).
- On bridge: small trim to Duke's gunfire (too much).
- On bridge: small trim to Shadow shooting at cement block (he looked comically excited: wrong tone).
- In cab: cut Tam's "ask my wife" and Shadow's "NOOO!" response (wrong comedic tone).
- Cut Tam waving goodbye to taxi.
- Insert Dream #1 "I am your teacher" at fireplace.
- In museum: cut "Why have I not heard of him" (made the museum employee appear ignorant).
- In museum: trim the flapping sarcophagus hinges, so the guard holsters his gun once not twice (made him look dumb).
- In museum: cut guard's "We're closed." and "Yes, my khan." Also cut Shiwan's repeat of "join me or die".
- Message in vacuum pipe: trim some piping section (for pacing).
- In Tam's lab: cut Tam's "Hey, that is catchy" to Cranston's "Atomic Bomb" (The term was known: H.G. Wells coined it in his 1914 book "The World Set Free").
- At Cobalt Club: cut commissioner Gordon's sputtering "Oh, waiter" during Margo's plea. The man may be dim but he's not (that) rude.
- At Rheinhardt's lab: cut "I'm not asking you to eat a burger." from the food-choice exchange between the guards (the joke went on too long).
- In Rheinhardt's lab: mute "next time you get to be on top", and trim battle for pacing.
- Outside Rheinhardt's lab building: cut Shrevnitz "I sense someone is coming" (lame joke).
- On street just before Chinatown: extend (muffled) street noises from Chinatown in the preceding shot on the street (smoother transition).
- In Shiwan Khan's restaurant: cut Cranston's "That's the U.S. of A. you're talkin' about" (the Shadow saw so much wrong in society, I don't think he was a poster boy for American Exceptionalism in the 20th century). This, unfortunately, forced me to also cut Khan's eye-rolling "... ruling the world".
- In restaurant: cut "oh that knife" (Khan's speech flows better this way).
- Departing restaurant: cut 1/2 second of Khan going for the window (visual continuity).
- add Dream #2 "battlefield" into "face-off" dream.
- In Cranston's guest-room: cut 1 instance of Cranston saying "last night we agreed" (wrong comedic tone).
- Wide shot of Empire State Building: erase the antenna from the top of the building (time period error: that was only added in 1953), and mute Cranston's pun when sailor jumps off building (wrong kind of funny).
- Inside giant water tank: trim trapped Shadow (for pacing).
- Outside water tank: cut Cranston's smile after Margo says "You called?"
- Place Dream #3 "shoot through him" during fever sleep (replacing the "battlefield" dream which got moved into Dream #2).
- In Hotel Monolith: cut Claymore's "Betcha wish you were nicer to me ...".
- In the hotel: trim Claymore's fight with the Shadow (for pacing).
- Disarming the bomb: cut most of bomb rolling around the hotel (wrong comedic tone: with different music this could be in a Chaplin movie).
- The Lady from Shanghai-inspired mirrors climax. The final battle was shortened because Universal Studios suffered earthquake damage during filming and decided not to rebuild the mirror set. They used only the footage they already had. The result feels truncated. I would have loved to extend the final battle, with a longer build-up of suspense before the mirror-shattering action. Alas, the only thing I can do is to rebalance the build-up a little by shifting some shots so that the bomb story wraps up earlier to create a slightly longer continuous final battle. I mirrored one shot (pun intended) and removed one with poor SFX. No significant changes because there just isn't enough material!
- Aftermath: tiny trim to the Commisioner looking up at the hotel (the actor looked too high up the second time).
- Aftermath: add "Upstate New York" location title card to the mental hospital, as a nod to Doc Savage's "Crime College" (this Easter Egg really jumped out at me, I don't understand how reviewers didn't pick up on it).
- Closing credits: Cut awful green-eyed Shadow drawing. I never liked that image they made for the movie poster. That's not my Shadow! Instead, I added the Shadow's laugh to transition into the credits.
- Closing credits: Replace "Original Sin" with Goldsmith's unused version of "The Mirrors", followed by (slightly trimmed) Frontal Lobotomy.
- Added FE logo.
- Added English subtitles.
- Not added: shot of Shadow on bridge w CGI cape (from Taylor Dayne music video), because picture quality is too low.
- Not added: I tried Winifred Shaw's 1935 rendition of "Lullaby of Broadway" for the second half of the end credits (it's sung and whistled in the movie by both Shiwan Khan and the museum guard) but it wasn't the right fit.
- Not cut: Khan and Cranston talking about the "nice tie". I like the dry wit.
User reviews
18 reviews
Overall rating
9.9
Audio/Video Quality
9.9(18)
Audio Editing
9.9(18)
Visual Editing
10.0(18)
Narrative
9.7(18)
Enjoyment
9.8(18)
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
The original film is a “guilty” pleasure. This edit was simply a pleasure! I love the artistic changes with the backstory flashbacks. A lot of cheese was excised from dialogue. The new old fashioned universal logo was a nice touch. Also changing the credits music was a good decision. The only jarring moments for me were the additional “the shadow knows” dialogue at the beginning, and the laughter at the end. I only mean that they were obviously inserted, and not necessary. They don’t make the movie worse.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
F
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
lapis molari was extremely courteous and thankfully I have nothing ill to say of this editor's work. When I was a small boy I first saw this movie and it really left an impression on me. Now, all these years later, I know many elements of the movie will have aged poorly. In general hollywood inserts a lot of cringe inducing "levity" to most everything they produce. This edit presents The Shadow story very straightforwardly, with awkward humor eliminated. Now in this edit we begin the story with The Shadow and slowly learn his backstory. This edit makes the movie more fun, more true to the spirit of the source material and more artful (by taking away the detracting material)
If this edit had been the movie that was released in theaters it would have been a classic. I would rather watch this version than the original. I love how much more sincere this cut feels.
If this edit had been the movie that was released in theaters it would have been a classic. I would rather watch this version than the original. I love how much more sincere this cut feels.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
F
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I'm a huge fan of the Shadow as a character in the comics, novels / magazine stories, and radio dramas. The film in 1994 was such a let down to what could have been. When I read about what this edit was trying to do I had to see it. Thanks to lapis molari for their excellent work here.
There were three elements of change I really felt watching this version: the credits, the flashbacks, and the tone. The first is the most obvious. The new title sequences were expertly done and with pinache. Wonderful shots of the comics were a fantastic introduction to the film which itself was trying to keep some of that sequential art vibe. The choice to split up the flashbacks in parts into the various dream sequences was also a relief. We didn't really miss out on anything from the material left on the cutting room floor, and the pacing was drastically improved. Finally the tonality work, cutting some poor humor choices, trimming shots, and so on, did a nice job trying to pull the strings together.
Sadly, as lapis molari notes in the edit description, there's only so much that can be done with the source material. The writers missed opportunities to dive into the Shadow's network of agents and show them as his investigative strength. There could have been much more emphasis placed on his ethical choices and what it means to be irredeemable, yet struggling. Honestly, the franchise deserves another shot on screen. For as many times as they've rebooted Batman, the Shadow could bring something truly wonderful to the big screen.
But until then, this fan edit will have to suffice. Well done.
There were three elements of change I really felt watching this version: the credits, the flashbacks, and the tone. The first is the most obvious. The new title sequences were expertly done and with pinache. Wonderful shots of the comics were a fantastic introduction to the film which itself was trying to keep some of that sequential art vibe. The choice to split up the flashbacks in parts into the various dream sequences was also a relief. We didn't really miss out on anything from the material left on the cutting room floor, and the pacing was drastically improved. Finally the tonality work, cutting some poor humor choices, trimming shots, and so on, did a nice job trying to pull the strings together.
Sadly, as lapis molari notes in the edit description, there's only so much that can be done with the source material. The writers missed opportunities to dive into the Shadow's network of agents and show them as his investigative strength. There could have been much more emphasis placed on his ethical choices and what it means to be irredeemable, yet struggling. Honestly, the franchise deserves another shot on screen. For as many times as they've rebooted Batman, the Shadow could bring something truly wonderful to the big screen.
But until then, this fan edit will have to suffice. Well done.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
J
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Haven't seen this in 30 years and my wife had never seen it so hard to compare to original but we had a great time. We saw it at night while it was pouring rain outside. We laughed at some parts particularly the knife but that was source material and I dont see how it could be cut even if lapis molari had wanted to. I cant believe movies used to look like this the sets are gorgeous all the practical stuff just looks better to me - like when a car explodes and you see the black smoke and the car on fire and you know its not cgi becaue it just looks real. Anyways totally recommend this cut.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
K
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This Movie was unknown to my Couchmate and she was ready to give it a shot.
I knew this one from back when i was little, and to be honest, i have not seen it for ages.
So all in all seeing the changes or be specific in detail is hardly possible for me, as the Original is tucked away in my brain so far, hat i couldnt see all that has been done.
BUT i could feel it. I know that this is a different movie, that some poor comedy was no longer there and that the Characters all are more "visible". More understandable in a way, if oyu know what i mean.
The Shadow probably could have been even more, back than, but for know this edit makes it stronger. A briliant watch.
A good fun and Action movie with love for the details that back in 1994 have been Overshadowed.
Its the only Version we gonna watch now, and this will not be the last time.
I knew this one from back when i was little, and to be honest, i have not seen it for ages.
So all in all seeing the changes or be specific in detail is hardly possible for me, as the Original is tucked away in my brain so far, hat i couldnt see all that has been done.
BUT i could feel it. I know that this is a different movie, that some poor comedy was no longer there and that the Characters all are more "visible". More understandable in a way, if oyu know what i mean.
The Shadow probably could have been even more, back than, but for know this edit makes it stronger. A briliant watch.
A good fun and Action movie with love for the details that back in 1994 have been Overshadowed.
Its the only Version we gonna watch now, and this will not be the last time.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
V